Overview
- Firefighters in Mexico City, battling a blaze that broke out Tuesday night near the La Merced market, declared it extinguished with no deaths reported.
- Authorities disclosed Wednesday that a short circuit in a power-company transformer operated by the CFE was the preliminary cause of the fire.
- Roughly 200 people were evacuated and at least 17 individuals received medical care, mostly for smoke inhalation, with two sent for oxygen therapy.
- Damage counts are still being reconciled, with Protección Civil reporting 72 semi-fixed stalls and 25 shops hit, while another official tally puts the number of stalls at about 100, plus several damaged buildings.
- Crews used 78 water tankers and about 250 personnel to contain flames that burned intensely because many stalls held plastic party goods and some spaces stored pyrotechnics.